A memo from a top adviser to Jeb Bush gives a clue as to how he could connect with the conservative base of his party if he runs for president: talking about his religious faith. Faith is listed as one of nine “issues you care about” in a memo to Mr. Bush’s supporters from Sally Bradshaw that quotes Mr. Bush on each topic, offering an on-message preview of his potential bid for the Republican nomination. Referring to his conversion to Catholicism, Mr. Bush says, “My faith was strengthened when I converted to my wife’s faith…It gives me a serenity that,...

Because the right never trusted him, Mitt Romney spent the entire 2012 presidential primary burnishing his conservative credentials, and spent much of the general election on unsure footing, never confident that the Republican base would be comfortable with his gestures to the broader electorate. If the next Republican nominee is going to find balance, it won't be as an establishment guy putting on a Goldwater impression. The question is whether he’ll be a party activist or another patrician who also happens to be comfortable in his own skin. Two weeks ago, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush weighed in for the...

Jeb Bush has quietly consulted former Republican presidential nominee John McCain about how to run for president without pandering to conservatives in a GOP primary, according to a new report. The New York Times, in a story published Friday, examines the former Florida governor’s thinking on a possible campaign. The story notes that Bush seems to be leaning towards running, but has no desire to change some of his political positions to win over the party’s base. When former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida quietly visited Senator John McCain in his Capitol Hill office this fall, discussion turned to a...

Respondents got to choose among nine potential candidates in the survey: Clinton; Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Vice President Joe Biden; Governor Chris Christie (R-N.J.); Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas); Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); former Governor Jeb Bush (R-Fla.); Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Governor Scott Walker (R-Wis.) Clinton gets the support of 38 percent of women millionaires and 27 percent of male millionaires. Among male millionaires of both parties, Hillary is the top choice, with 27 percent. Millionaires are sharply divided on their choice for the next President of the U.S., according to the second CNBC Millionaire Survey released today. Yet...

Jeb Bush revealed that a decision on his presidential ambitions is coming 'in short order', as he spoke out to condemn President Barack Obama's recent immigration order. The former Florida governor said he will make up his mind based on whether he can 'lift people's spirits and not get sucked into the vortex', and whether 'the sacrifice for my family is tolerable'. He said: 'I'm thinking about running for president. And I'll make up my mind in short order - not that far out in the future.' 'I don't know if I'd be a good candidate or a bad one,'...

Allies of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush say his chances of running for president in 2016 are becoming a more likely possibility now than ever before. According to Politico, Bush is laying the groundwork for a bid with private prep work on key international issues and visits to top Senate races across the country to campaign.

Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) touted former governor Jeb Bush (R., Fla.) as a potential contender in the 2016 presidential elections while discussing the merits of nominating a governor as opposed to a senator. “I think that governors who are successful obviously have a cachet that is probably helpful to them, particularly, since the Congress is held in low esteem,” McCain tells National Review Online. “I think there will be some who are very competitive, including Jeb Bush if he decides to run.” McCain says he hadn’t decided to back Bush. “I keep hearing that he may be considering a...

In his lone commencement address of the year, former Florida governor Jeb Bush urged students at a Christian liberal arts college Saturday to reaffirm their socially conservative values, a sign that he is underscoring his own as he considers running in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries. “Remain true to your convictions and your faith,” Bush said, speaking at Grove City College in northwestern Pennsylvania. “This may seem a little challenging today, where we have a federal government that is willingly violating the religious freedom of its citizens. But we don’t have to accept it.” Dropping a possible hint about his...

Jeb Bush can trace some of his most appealing qualities as a potential presidential candidate for a diversifying electorate to his 40-year partnership with his Mexican-born wife, Columba. The couple speak Spanish to one another, and their lives have been immersed in Hispanic culture and the immigrant experience. But Columba’s intense distaste for the public arena is one of the issues weighing most heavily on the former Florida governor as he grapples with whether to run for the White House in 2016, according to interviews with friends, former staffers and GOP donors close to the family. -snip- Columba Bush at...

House Speaker John Boehner signaled support for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for president during a press conference on Monday. “Jeb Bush is my friend,” Boehner said. "I think he’d make a great president. And I’ve been nudging him for some time.” Boehner made his remarks during a Q&A session with Texas Tribune at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Boehner also asserted that a majority of Republicans were interested in immigration reform, even though some were blocking the issue. “There are some members of my party that just do not want to deal with this,” Boehner said....

House Speaker John Boehner signaled support for former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to run for president during a press conference on Monday. “Jeb Bush is my friend,” Boehner said. "I think he’d make a great president. And I’ve been nudging him for some time.” Boehner made his remarks during a Q&A session with Texas Tribune at the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Boehner also asserted that a majority of Republicans were interested in immigration reform, even though some were blocking the issue.

Enough already. If there’s nothing innately unhealthy about any individual child’s following a parent into politics, we still should look askance when the practice becomes habitual, and when the habit grows so common. The always-commonsensical Barbara Bush, when famously recommending against a Jeb Bush candidacy a few months ago by saying “we’ve had enough Bushes,” was making a broader point. “I think it’s a great country,” she said. “There are a lot of great families. It’s not just four families or whatever. There are other people out there that are very qualified.” In a nation of more than 300 million...

As we know, the search for an “establishment” candidate has been on in the GOP for a while now, a savior who can rescue the party from Rand Paul or Ted Cruz. That man, of course, is Jeb Bush. Last week on Hardball, Kathleen Parker said he is definitely running. She’s a conservative columnist but not a wacko, has establishment GOP credentials and Florida ties to boot. And she spoke with the air of someone who had had this nugget leaked to her specifically so that she would go out on national TV and blurt it out. So take the...

Could the 2016 presidential election turn into a contest between a Bush and a Clinton? Political debate in America last week revolved around whether or not Jeb Bush, Florida's former governor who is son or brother to two former US presidents – both named George – would jump into the 2016 battle for the Republican presidential nomination. For a nation that fought a war for independence from the hereditary power of the British Crown, in the person of another fellow named George, the concept of nominating a third Bush to run for the White House against a second Clinton (the...

The GOP will never become unified until is decides what it believes. Bush should run if only to force that debate over what Republicans really stand for. Part of the reason Reagan won in 1980 was the field against him was divided. The establishment favored Ambassador Bush or John Connolly or Bob Dole or Howard Baker but Reagan forced the debate and moved the party to the right, where much of it is today. In 2016 the right of center vote will be divided among Paul, Ted Cruz, and others, just as the conservative vote was divided in 2012, allowing...

If Jeb Bush decides to run for president, he’ll have to defend his family’s controversial political name. But more immediate family concerns might keep him from running at all. Republican donors and operatives are chattering about Bush’s publicity-shy wife, so worried she isn’t on board with a 2016 White House run that they’re urging people in the family’s orbit to make the case. Columba Bush has long been deeply averse to the spotlight, especially after an embarrassing encounter with U.S. Customs while her husband was still in office. Donors also wonder whether Bush is willing to subject his family and...

They’re both qualified, respectful of each other (shocker!), and represent the vast majority of middle America. So what’s not to like about another Clinton/Bush race for 2016? When you mention the prospect of Clinton vs. Bush 2016 a funny thing happens. First, there is the reflexive response: "Oh no, not again. We don't need more dynastic politics in this country." But upon further reflection, you realize Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton would be a great race and actually good for the country. Let's review. QUALIFICATIONS—THEY’VE BOTH GOT THEM.

A mention of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), a potential 2016 presidential contender, brought boos from a conservative crowd in New Hampshire on Saturday. Speaking at the New Hampshire Freedom Summit, a gathering of conservative activists and figures organized by Americans for Prosperity and Citizens United, billionaire Donald Trump said Bush’s recent comments on immigrants coming to the U.S. as an “act of love” were “out there.” “You know, I heard Jeb Bush the other day,” he said, with quiet boos and angry murmurs erupting from the crowd at the mention of Bush’s name.

VIDEO AT LINK On Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom" on Tuesday, former adviser to President George W. Bush Karl Rove reacted to remarks from former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) that called certain types of illegal immigration an "act of love"...

It's not likely the race for president in 2016 will pit former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and former Democratic Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol predicted. "I'm willing to go out on a limb," Kristol told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. "I think there's no way there will be a Bush-Clinton race in 2016."

The 2014 midterms are looming large, and behind them, the specter of 2016. In the past year, Chris Christie has gone from being the Republican Wunderkind to elephant in the room, and Hilary Clinton is, well, Hilary Clinton. What is the modern-day Republican Party Â– a VĂ¶lkisch (ethnic nationalist) political party become religion Â– to do? Clearly, itÂ’s time for the Republican establishment to start asking themselves, Â“Where are we going to find a sane candidate?Â” (or at least sane-seeming, as 2012â€˛s misadventure with Mitt Romney demonstrates). The answer is already in the history books, not that Republicans like to...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will make a decision on whether he’ll enter the 2016 presidential race by the end of this year, he said during an interview on Fox News Channel Sunday during the 25th anniversary celebration of his father’s presidency in College Station, Texas. ... He said in the Fox News interview that illegal immigration is, for many people, an effort to provide for their families, and “not a felony.” “It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family,” Bush said. “I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime. There should...

Support for a Bush candidacy is building far beyond Florida. At a gathering of prominent conservatives in Las Vegas last weekend — where presidential hopefuls kissed the ring of billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson — Bush was among those who puckered up. And the donors liked what they saw. "GOP elite hoping to lure Jeb Bush," trumpeted the headline at the top of the Washington Post's Sunday-morning paper. Some see Bush as the party's best hope. Others see weaknesses ripe for exploitation. I think both sides are right. Right now, Florida's 43rd governor towers above most of the other Republicans...

Connoisseurs of hinge-moments – those instants at which a country’s future changes – have long-appreciated the 1994 Florida gubernatorial election. Jeb Bush lost. Meanwhile, across the country, his elder brother George was elected governor of Texas. George Junior complained – whined, perhaps – that Barbara and George Senior grieved Jeb’s loss more than they celebrated George’s victory. Until that moment, however, Jeb had been thought the Bush boy more likely to succeed on the national stage. Over the course of a single night in 1994, however, the wheel turned back to George. We know what happened next. Twenty years later...

With Chris Christie in deep trouble, Republican poobahs are reportedly looking to Jeb Bush to save their party in 2016. The former two-term governor of Florida speaks fluent Spanish, is a convert to Catholicism, and has high name recognition. Jeb could raise millions of dollars over night by just saying “yes” to running. Despite all this, there are strong reasons Republicans should say no to him. 1. His last name is poison. Let’s face it, if Jeb Bush had the last name of Something Else he would have already run for president in 2008 or 2012. According to a recent...

I have no objections to Jeb Bush running for president. He obviously has a wide appeal as a potential candidate. With a Mexican wife, and as a man who speaks fluent Spanish, he would be able to increase the Hispanic vote in the GOP column. On the other hand, many in the Republican base find his position on immigration untenable, and would fight him tooth and nail during primary season. He is also a serious advocate of education reform. His support of Common Core, however, will also find many who are in the conservative ranks objecting, since they fear that...

Saturday’s Washington Post gave prominent placement to an article headlined “Influential Republicans working to draft Jeb Bush into 2016 presidential race” that detailed the establishment GOP’s desperate attempt to recruit the former Governor of Florida to run for president. The article by Philip Rucker and Robert Costa claims that “Concerned that the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal has damaged New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s political standing and alarmed by the steady rise of Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), prominent donors, conservative leaders and longtime operatives say they consider Bush the GOP’s brightest hope to win back the White House.” Rucker and...

The chore of determining who is the inevitable candidate for Republicans â€“ at least in the minds of beltway insiders and the media â€“ is clearly becoming more difficult. But the Washington Post takes a swing at the problem this weekend as they delve into the number of big donors who are now courting Jeb Bush to get off the bench and toss his hat in the ring. Many of the Republican PartyÂ’s most powerful insiders and financiers have begun a behind-the-scenes campaign to draft former Florida governor Jeb Bush into the 2016 presidential race, courting him and his intimates...

Jeb Bush is thinking about running for president in 2016. Like, really thinking about it. He's the headliner at an event hosted by mega donor Sheldon Adelson in Las Vegas on Thursday. He was actively involved in Rep. David Jolly's special election victory in Florida earlier this month. And he is breaking with his party's orthodoxy on Common Core. So, as Jeb mulls a bid whose advice does he seek? Who does he trust to give him an unvarnished view of what the race might look like? Well, everyone even close to Jeb insists that he largely keeps his own...

A group of top Republican donors have reportedly begun an intense effort to draft former Florida governor Jeb Bush into the race for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. A Washington Post report quotes one major donor as saying that the "vast majority" of the top 100 givers to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney would back Bush in a nomination fight. The report also claims that a hard press has begun to get Bush into the race because conservative leaders and longtime Republican operatives are concerned about the electoral viability of New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand...

No two people spur more breathless presidential speculation than Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush. So, naturally, when the Republican former Florida governor and former secretary of state took the stage at a higher education conference in Dallas today, albeit a few hours apart, the level of speculation shifted into overdrive. /barf

In our first ranking of the very large and very unsettled 2016 Republican presidential field back in April of last year, we decided to not even include the name of one of the brightest stars in the GOP universe: Jeb Bush. We just didnÂ’t think, at the time, that the former Florida governor and brother and son of presidents was all that interested in running.But during 2013 and into this new year, weÂ’ve gotten the sense, like many others, that things might be changing. So much so that we now consider Bush the leader of the field if he decides...

Jeb Bush gets the question at just about every public appearance these days: Will you run for president? The former Florida governor gives a well-worn answer: "I can honestly tell you that I don't know what I'm going to do." It's an answer that won't satisfy the GOP faithful for much longer. With New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie facing multiple investigations in a political retribution probe, many Republicans see Bush as a potent alternative: a two-term GOP governor who thrived in the nation's largest swing-voting state and could make the party more inclusive. Friends and advisers say he is seriously...

South Carolina Republicans like former Florida governor John E. “Jeb” Bush for president, while continuing to support Sen. Lindsey O. Graham for re-nomination against a host of conservative challengers. “Jeb Bush shows strength across many of the poll’s crosstabs and was the choice of 22 percent of the respondents compared to his 16 percent in our November poll,” said Doug Kaplan, the president of Gravis Marketing, the Florida-based polling company. “In the GOP Senate primary survey, Graham polled 60 percent against the field compared to his 54 percent in our November poll,” he said. In the case that no candidate...

WASHINGTON — OY. By the time the Bushes and Clintons are finished, they are going to make the Tudors and the Plantagenets look like pikers. Before these two families release their death grip on the American electoral system, we’re going to have to watch Chelsea’s granddaughter try to knock off George P.’s grandson, Prescott Walker Bush II. Barack Obama, who once dreamed of being a transformational president, will turn out to be a mere hiccup in history, the interim guy who provided a tepid respite while Hillary and Jeb geared up to go at it. Elections for president are supposed...

The 2016 presidential election is Jeb Bush’s now-or-never-moment. As other potential GOP standard-bearers have been hit by scandal or seen their luster fade, many Republicans desperately want the former Florida governor to get in the race. His allies say he is considering it more seriously than ever before. They believe he could be their Goldilocks candidate: Not too conservative, not too centrist; not too dull, not too unpredictable; not too inexperienced, and not too marred by scandal. In fact, just right. But many of his greatest potential advantages could also be liabilities. The Bush name gives him a deep and...

Jeb Bush understands that as the son and brother of former presidents, his family name may hurt him as much as help him if he decides to run for the White House in 2016. And the former two-term Florida governor reiterated that he'll make his decision on whether to launch a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination by the end of this year. Bush, the featured guest Monday at the Long Island Association's biannual luncheon, a popular stop for former presidents and White House hopefuls, was asked about the recent comments from his mother. Former first lady Barbara Bush told...

And why is that? Because it's beginning to dawn on me that Jeb Bush is probably going to be the Republican Party's nominee for president in 2016. Consider: With the ongoing implosion of Chris Christie's political career, the GOP establishment has lost its best hope for a candidate who could stop a libertarian-populist insurgency during the primaries. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker — the list of viable fire-breathers is longer (and less dominated by incompetents, crazies, and one-note sideshow acts) than establishment types would like.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Jeb Bush is considering a run for the White House — no matter what his mother thinks. With two recent national polls showing Jeb among the top potential 2016 Republican presidential contenders, a local Florida reporter asked the former Sunshine State governor Wednesday about a potential run. “I’m considering — I’m going to think about it later,” he said. “So I don’t wake up each day saying, ‘oh, what am I going to do today to make this decision. I’m deferring the decision to the right time, which is later this year.” The son and brother of former presidents continued...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said he would defer his decision to run for president in 2016 until later this year. Bush on Wednesday said a major factor would be whether he can do the job “joyfully,” given the pessimistic nature of the country at the moment. “I’m deferring the decision to the right time, which is later this year. And the decision will be based on, can I do it joyfully, because I think we need to have candidates lift our spirits,” he told a local TV station Wednesday. “It’s a pretty pessimistic country right now. And, is...

The Republican National Committee gave near-unanimous approval Friday to a package of rules changes that would condense the 2016 presidential nominating calendar and help the party avoid the kind of protracted party infighting that dented GOP nominee Mitt Romney's general election appeal in 2012. The changes dovetail with the party's desire to move the convention from late summer to a June window, which would make the next Republican National Convention the earliest convention in either party since 1948. The RNC has announced its support for the June move but will formally vote on the change at a later date. "This...

With Chris Christie ostensibly knocked off his perch as the early frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, the search is on to find an alternative that is acceptable to both conservative and moderate GOP primary voters. At least, thatÂ’s what the political press would have you to believe. Appearing on CNNÂ’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, USA Today political reporter Susan Page was asked for her take on one possible substitute for Christie that Â“will bridge the divideÂ” that exists between conservative tea party voters and the GOPÂ’s moderates. The most likely contender at this early stage of the...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush predicted Monday night Congress would pass a series of immigration bills next year and touted his conservative credentials as he talked about his thought process on a potential 2016 presidential bid. In a wide-ranging, onstage interview at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Bush said he didn't necessarily agree with his mother, who joked there have been "enough Bushes" in the White House. The Spanish-speaking former governor also took a slight dig at another potential 2016 contender, Sen. Ted Cruz, for his Spanish language skills. 'I'm a conservative' At one point in the...

Alternate headline: “Second look at Chris Christie?” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gets all the love as the current GOP front-runner for 2016 (to the extent there can even be a front runner three years out.) But there is growing chatter in elite New York financial circles that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is giving more serious consideration to getting in the race, especially if it appears at any point that Christie is not drawing big national appeal beyond the northeast. Several plugged in GOP sources said Bush has moved from almost certainly staying out to a 30 percent chance...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother and son of the former presidents Bush, is considering a run for president, but only if Gov. Chris Christie fails to gain nationwide traction, Politico reports this morning.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) will honor former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with this year’s Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center. The award will be presented to Clinton on September 10th, the eve of the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans. ... Upon the announcement of Clinton’s award in June, Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft wrote, “Really Jeb, no one else came to mind?"